User blog comment:Derekoe/Devil Arms, and Sparda's Time on Earth...?/@comment-775152-20111023031827

Oooh I love speculation! So much fun! If you'd like more in-depth explanations, just ask and I can maybe write my own blog post on it!

My take on Devil Arms is that they /can/ be devil souls, but don't /have/ to be. Sparda made the sword Sparda from his own power to seal it, presumably because he had too much power to remain in the human world (whatever that means... that's an essay on its own.) My theory is that there's some "minimum level of soul power" necessary to create a devil arm, and weaker demons must use their whole soul to create a devil arm, while strong demons need only sacrifice some of their soul/power.

As far as Dante changing forms, we should also remember that some of the differences we see in the games may be a result of the limitations created by the medium itself, (meaning, because they are games, they can't do some things that they should.) Dante changing forms in DT might just be a stylistic approach, and Dante not changing forms might just be to save time and money on production. Who knows? Personally, I like to think he changes because he is able to conquer and utilize the power/soul inside the Devil Arm, and when he isn't shown changing forms, it's because the development team was lazy. :P Or, as you said, he could just be so powerful that he doesn't need to channel the power inside the Devil Arm.

Now, my take on Sparda:

Legends are just that: Legends. While they may contain the truth, they should be viewed with a dose of skepticism. 2000 years ago, Sparda rebelled, and sealed the human world from the demon's; We're not told how long the rebellion lasted. According to the Order of the Sword, Sparda served as the feudal lord of Fortuna. We're not told if he ruled there before or after the rebellion. (Remember, according to legend, Mundus also served as the feudal lord of Mallet Island.) 2,000 years ago, Matier and the Vie de Marli fought alongside Dante... And this raises another interesting point: If Matier fought with Sparda, then she must be 2,000 years old. If she's only a human, there must be some kind of life-extending process out there. Again, though, that's another essay by itself. (like how could the Vie de Marli have been created after the slave era, but fight alongside Sparda 2,000 years ago???)

Anyway, back to my point; just because Sparda gave up his power to live as a human, doesn't mean he actually was a human and aged like one. The picture of Sparda with Eva and his twins looks rather old-fashioned--I'd say victorian but I'm terrible with timeperiods, (plus they didn't have cameras back then, and Dante clearly has a photograph of Eva.) I wrote a rather long explanation for how I think Dante aged (or didn't) over the course of the game, here. Of course, my theories aren't airtight, but they are fun to ponder!